THE MICHIGAN DAILY Civic Orchestra Program Is More Auspicious Than Original c'oore cAbout cJYx siC1 By William Lichtenwanger Elsewhere in this supplement men- blue-bloods among Germany's hogs tion is made of the extremely cosmo- are 3,600,000 belonging to a race politan character of American mu- which is aristocratically labeled as sical activities, especially as regards 'German Noble White Hog." Rachmaninof;f Johnson Discusses Comparison LeadsOff Choral Of European, American Works the personnel of our symphony or- chestras. The Boston Symphony, for' example, will bring here approximate- ly 100 musicians, representing 19 dif- ferent nationalities. Figures on the Cleveland Orchestra are not avail- able, but it is likely that its ratio is about the same as that of the Boston. As a matter of fact, the entire Choral Union Series for the year pre-! sents the same aspect of racial va- riety. Leaving out the two orchestral melting pots, we have eight artists or organizations, representing eight different countries: Russia, Austria, Poland, Finland, France, Hungary,: Roumania-and, strangely enough, these United States. Quite a musical travelogue in itself! Also, looking at it politically, quite definitely a non-a Fascist aggregation, although thank- fully American music is not as yet af- fected directly by international pol- itics. The same statement, however. could hardly be made with regard to the majority of the European coun- tries at the present time. Germany, for instance, offers the prime example of heavy-handed governmental con- trol of music and the other arts. On this subject Columnist Ernest L. Meyer last year waxed poetic in his "As The Crow Flies" in the New York Post. He first quoted two Associated Press dispatches from Germany. One told of the tearing down of,the statue of Felix. Mendelssohn which longI stood in Leipzig, because Nazi author- ities felt that Mendelssohn's fame as a composer could not overcome the' fact that he was a Jew. The second dispatch informed the world that "there is an important racial distinc- tion in Germany between pigs. The Then sang Mr. Meyer: "Mendelssohn made music in a manner quite delectable. But his grandpa had cursed him with a Palestinian taint; His "Spring Song," you may argue, is really unperfectible, But such a silly notion is very 4 Major Ensembles Plusi Six Soloists Are To Bel Featured Here (Continued from Page I) been presided over by conductors of' world renown. For more than a dozen years Dr. Koussevitzky has been its leader. 11-Year-Old Genius Immediately following the close of the Christmas recess will come Ruth' (Continued from Page 1) queer and quaint. Slencyynski, 11-year-old genius of "Oh, such views are antiquarian, the piano who has toured the cities For you've got to be an Aryan of two continents since her New York To qualify as genius under mod- debut three years ago. ern Nazi law. A Finnish Chorus from the Uni- You've got to be a German versity of Helsinki under the con- By the name of Hans or Herman ductorship of Martti Turunen will With a Nordic nose like Goebbels make ids appearance Jan. 18. and a Nordic Goering jaw. In the Spring of 1935 the chorus "A Leipzig pig made music in a made an extensive tour of Europe, manner quite eclectical, giving concerts in Sweden, Germany, For 'he grunted in an octave Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and passed officially as pure; Italy. When the question of making' His ancestry was Aryan for reason a concert tour in the United States dietetical, early in 1938 was projected, foremost He'd no Semitic ham in him, of men of Finland willingly volunteered that you may be sure. to sponsor the tour. Oh, this hog was Nordic, surely, Added Impetus Given And he grunted proudly, purely, Additional impetus was given by And his squeals were in soprano the invitation extended by the In-! with a German accent true. tercollegiate Musical Council, whose Nobler pig was never roasted, president. Marshall Bartholomew, Fobrigwryaneorer oastedz conductor of the Yale University Glee For this Aryan porker boasted z Club. has heard the Helsinki Univer- A pedigree so Nordic that he grunt- city Chorus on his visits to Finland. ed umlauts, too. Gina Cigna, French-Italian dra- "Now the citizens of Leipzig, to matic soprano whose debut at the conserve Kultur untainted, Metropolitan Opera last season was Took Mendelssohn and dumped him from his pedestal of stone; - And while the muse of music gabe For Hitler knows the value of his a groan of woe and fainted, umlauting swine. They put the Nordic porker on the Mendelssohn the music-master Mendelssohnian throne. Might bring Deutschland to dis- "You may call such actions foolish, aster,I For Hitler knows the So heroic Nordic porkers keep Die But you're merely mean and mulish, Wacht am Rhein." have now acquired it. When one scans the roster of brilliant artists in symphonic organizations in this country which includes such person- alities as Barrere, flutist (formerly with the New York Philharmonic), Tabiteau, oboist and Calliet, clarinet-' ist. of the Philadelphia; and Laur- ent (flutist), Bladet (flutist), Gillet (oboist). Mimart (clarinetist), and Allard, (bassoonist), all of the Boston -it is apparent. that American con- ductors realize the value of the French musician in woodwind sec- tions. As to talent and ability in stringed' pronounced "of historic importance" will follow the Finnish chorus. Mme. Cigna has been singing professionally for only eight years but in that period she has appeared in leading roles at: the major opera houses of Paris, Lon- don, Rome, Milan, Budapest, Flor- ence, Berlin, Vienna, Nice, Verona,' Venice, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Four Hungarian Virtuosi The Roth String Quartet from Bu-. dapest which appears Feb. 17, brings to Ann Arbor four Hungarian vir- tuosi of the first and second violin,' the viola and the cello. Feri Roth, founder and first violinist, was first concertmaster of the Grosse Volks- oper in Berlin. Jeno Antal, second violinist, Ferenc Molnar, viola and Janos Scholz, violoncellist were na- tionally known chamber music per- formers and soloists when the four decided to combine their talents in Paris where they made their initialj instruments, the Jewish and Slavic races have always excelled and sur- passed all others. Formerly the Ger- man-Jewish and Russian-Jewish string sections in the Berlin Philhar- monic and the Dresden Staatsoper orchestras were incomparable. At present those symphonies at Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Zag- rab and Palestine boast of unusual string groups which are consider- ably finer than the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections in the same orchestras. In our own symphonies it is the exception rather than the rule when there are non-Jewish or non-Slavic musicians in the string sections. One general exception should be made with references to Italian mu- sicians, as in many American sym- phonies, a number of the prominent positions (especially in the harp sec- tions) are held by Italian artists; however their prominence in orches- tral circles can in no way be com- pared to that which they hold in the operatic realm both in this country and abroad. With these sources cont'ibuting vitally to the personnel, American or- chestras. generally speaking, are cos- mopolitan units, and through that condition, are freed from nationalis- tic handicaps under which many Eu- ropean orchestras are labouring to- day. If German orchestras pray De- bussy and Ravel poorly, it is excused on the basis that this is French music and therefore foreign to the Ger- manic temperament. Of if Italian orchestras play Beethoven in an Ital- 'I appearance in 1926. - ian manner, it is again excused in Concluding the Choral Union series the same manner of reasoning. How- March 1 will be Georges Enesco, one ever, the American orchestras, be- of the few world famed violinists who cause of their cosmopolitan personal- has never before appeared in Ann Ar- ities, are able to perform all types bor. As guest conductor and soloist of musical compositions with eqgtal Mr. Enesco toured the country last efficiency, and thereby gain a march season, playing with most of the fa- on the nationalistic orchestras mous symphony orchestras. I abroad. r m 1937 HORAL 1938 INION 0 I ONCERTS Rachmaninoff The 59th Annual Choral Union Season promises to be one of the finest in the history of these annual concerts. Such a superb collection of artists in one season missed. Rachmaninoff, Pianist is an opportunity not to be WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 0 The Cleveland Orchestra ARTUR RODZINSKI, Conductor 4 Richard Crooks, Tenor Fritz Kreisler, Violinist Boston Symphony Orchestra SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Conductor Ruth Slenczynski, Pianist Helsinki University Chorus MARTTI TURUNEN, Conductor Gina Cigna, Soprano The Roth Quartet TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 MONDAY JANUARY 10 TUESDAY, JANUARY 18 FRIDAY, JANUARY 28 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 rr ' 11 i 11 11 1 i III